John Wall Falls, John Wall Returns, John Wall Loses

The Memphis Grizzlies and new player Tayshaun Prince defeated the Washington Wizards on Friday night in Memphis.  John Wall left the game with an injury scare but returned to action.

Late in the first half, John Wall went up for a layup and seemed to hit his shoulder on another player.  He landed on his feet, arm limp, and he grabbed his arm as he fell to the ground in serious pain.  Wall's teeth were grinding and his feet were spazzing out.  It looked bad.  He was escorted to the locker room where initial reports are "sprained shoulder".

But Wall came back out after the half and returned to the game, looking to be fine.  Although late in the 4th quarter with the Wizards starting to collapse, Wall remained on the bench until the final 3 minutes, after the game was basically over.

Prince finished with 14 points for the Griz including hitting some backbreaking shots in the 4th quarter to help put away the Wizards.

The Wizards offense was non-existant and with John Wall unable to score on his own, the Wizards didn't really have an identity.  Okafor ended up taking (and bricking) shots in the clutch moments and the Wizards were having trouble getting decent shots the whole game.

Nene was the only Wizards player to finish in double figures, scoring 14 points.  Other than that, there isn't much to say.  The team has 0 depth and when one of their players goes down the entire team collapses and some of the bad body language started to show up again.

Next up for the Wiz tomorrow night against the Spurs...not good...

Washington's Win Streak Hits a Wall

Written By Jeremy Batka @EastCoastAssn

Despite playing well the Wizards couldn't seal the deal late Wednesday night in Sacramento losing to the Kings 95-94.

John Wall missed two free throws with 30 seconds left that eventually cost the Wizards their fourth straight win. The Wizards move to 1-16 on the road this season.

Bradley Beal set a new career high tonight dropping 26 in with a variety of shots. Beal did it all Wednesday night; he took charges, had six assists, made contested three point shots and had some big time dunks. If Beal continues to progress at this rate he will be the favorite for Rookie of the Year.

It wouldn't be fair to blame the entire loss on John Wall, he did after all have a double double with 14 points and ten assists in 26 minutes off the bench. Washington as a whole played it's sloppiest game since Wall's return and should have blown out a sub par Sacramento Kings squad led by Jimmer Fredette.

Martell Webster Dunks On DeMarcus Cousins (Watch It)

Nene did his best to keep the Wizards in the lead down the stretch, the Brazilian had 16 points 9 rebounds and six assists.  Kevin Seraphin managed 16 points but still leaves Wizard fans angry with his odd shot selection and questionable defense.

Jan Vesely had a quiet game after going for double digits in his last three. Tonight Vesely saw only ten minutes and failed to score with just one shot attempt. But he wasn't nearly as bad as Trevor Ariza who also failed to score going 0-6 from the field including botching an open layup in the final minutes.

The Wizards now must patch up the sloppy play and get ready to play their toughest back to back games thus far. Friday they will be in Denver for a JaVale McGee Reunion and Saturday they will be in Lob city to take on the red hot Clippers.

Pacers Fans Bored To Sleep By Wizards Basketball

Indiana lead from the first basket Thursday night and really had no trouble rolling over the Wizards 89-81 for their ninth straight win.  Randy Wittman looks like his soul is now gone, commenting about not having enough timeouts to fix all the problems.

"I'm gonna call [David] Stern tomorrow and see if maybe I can buy some, I'd pay a lot for a couple more extra timeouts" - Wittman

Paul George lead the Pacers with 29 points he also snagged 14 rebounds. George added his name to a long list of players that have feasted on Washington's lackluster defense.

The Wizards fought back from another defecit, this one 17 points.  They even trailed by just two in the fourth, proof that effort is not the problem with this team. Having a lack of talent on the other hand, is a clear disadvantage.

Here are three Bros in the crowd that aren't into the Wiz talent.  As you can tell they are more than thrilled to be watching their Pacers play the bottom-feeding #Wizards.

Jordan Crawford once again lead Washington in scoring with 20. Crawford has come off the bench in the last two games but it's clear for this Wizards team to win, they need as much Jordan Crawford as possible, he's the only consistent scorer on the team. (He also shot this airball)

The Eastern Conference rookie of the month, Bradley Beal had 14. And yes he did win that award, we are currently checking the archives to see if there is in fact, another rookie in the Eastern Conference.

Chris Singleton saw action tonight after not playing a minute in the previous three games. He had just four points. Combining that with Jan Vesely's zero points that means the 2011 first round picks for the Wizards had a whopping four points in just 19 minutes of play.

Other than Crawford, Nene is the only other player Wizards fans can rely on night in and night out. Nene had 15 points and six rebounds for a Wizards team that desperately needs more help in the post.

Andray Blatche returns to Verizon on Friday...

Wizards Win Their 4th Game

After a slow start the Washington Wizards looked like a professional basketball team for one of the few times this season, defeating the Orlando Magic 105-97 at Verizon Center on Friday night for their 4th win of the season.  The Magic looked like the team that was fighting for a moral victory as the Wizards controlled the game for most of the second half.

Jordan Crawford (27) and Nene (23) each scored over 20 points which was the first time all season the Wiz had two players accomplish that "feat" in a single game.  Crawford played a more controlled game, and the times that he was in "jack mode" the shots fell.

The Wizards also got a surprising performance out of Garrett Temple who shot 6-8 from the field and scored 13 points, causing Randy Wittman to stick Shelvin Mack on the bench.

In young player news, Chris Singleton didn't play and Jan Vesely made a cameo for under 4 minutes.  Bradley Beal scored 11 points but shot poorly again.  He did provide a rare Wizards highlight on a long  athletic alley-oop from Jordan Crawford.

In the first few minutes of the game the Magic took a commanding lead when Jameer Nelson hit 3 straight 3 pointers.  That was another reason that the starting point guard Shelvin Mack found himself in the doghouse.  Wittman may consider starting Garrett Temple tomorrow night in Chicago.

Light Sticks Don't Help Wizards, Pistons Win

The Washington Wizards lost to the Detroit Pistons for the second straight night, falling 96-87 on Saturday night at Verizon Center in front of the most sparce crowd of the entire season.  The few thousand fans who showed up were relatively quiet the entire game, except when they had the chance to win a free Chick-Fil-A sandwich of course.

The Wizards started off slow, scoring just 13 first quarter points after a late 5 point spurt to end the period.  The Pistons had the lead the entire game but with some help from a college style half court trap, the Wizards cut the lead to 6 points in the 4th quarter.  But every opportunity the Wizards had to steal the momentum they missed a shot or played poor defense to crush their chances.

Before the game Martell Webster came out and wished everyone a happy holidays and thanked fans for the support.  However during the game the Wizards missed several layups and even a dunk and at times drawing small rounds of boos from the Verizon crowd.

Wizards Snap Back to Reality, Oh There Goes Gravity

Written By Jeremy Batka  @EastCoastAssn

It's a good thing the Wizards beat Portland Wednesday night. After the way they played Friday it's hard to tell when their next victory will come as Washington was run out of the building by the Knicks in New York 108-87. 

There really aren't a lot of positives to talk about after this one. Coming off their first win of the season you probably hoped to see a Wizards squad that continued to play strong defense and good team offense like they did Wednesday night. But maybe that was too much to ask.

Surprisingly Washington did manage to out rebound the Knicks 42-32. But maybe the Knicks realized they didn't have to rebound because the Wizards defense was so atrocious. They had no answer for Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, or really....well anybody in a Knicks jersey.

Anthony had 20 points and 5 assists and JR Smith dropped 20 off the bench. Raymond Felton played well and ended with a +14 rating. Even New York's 35 year old rookie, Pablo Prigioni looked impressive against this Wizard "defense."

Jan Vesely did see the floor tonight after not playing at all in the teams win against Portland. True it was in garbage time and Vesely finished with a -2 rating but at least he recorded no fouls.

The Wizards will play the Heat at home on Tuesday. Whats the over under on more Heat fans show than Wizard fans?


Other Stories From Tonight:

• Wizards Fake Fight Knicks In New Vince Vaughn Movie
• A Nene Slam Dunk GIF
• GIF Of A Ref Teaching Okafor How To Shoot A Layup
• AUDIO: Phil Chenier thinks "Vacation" is called "Travelling With The Grizwolds"

Wizards Pick Up "Elusive" First Win

On Tuesday Bradley Beal said the Wizards had their best practice of the year. The following night, Washington managed to hang on and get their first victory of the season, beating Portland 84-82 and making their record a much more “respectable” 1-12. Or as Steve Buckhantz put it, they managed to get that “elusive first win.”

Jordan Crawford led the team in scoring; dropping 19 points off the bench including a three-pointer with just over two minutes left that gave the Wizards the lead. Of course, this is the Wizards we are talking about, so nothing came easy.

While Washington did have some resemblance of an actual NBA team last night, they started the game like the 0-12 abomination we’ve come to know and hate. Poor offensive possessions combined with non-existent first quarter defense put them in an early 11-point hole.  In the second quarter the defense finally made it to the floor and the Wizards actually experienced a six point lead, it didn’t last long and at half it was all knotted up at 43.

However, the third quarter was dominated by the Wizards – thanks in large part to the defense of Emeka Okafor, who had 6 points and 8 rebounds in 22 minutes and a huge block late in the game that kept the score tied at 82. But inevitably the Wizards managed to squander a 15-point lead in the final quarter, ending a 16-0 Trailblazers run and putting them in a one-point deficit at 78-77. But would they really be the Wizards if they didn’t make it close at the end?

There was actually a point in the game where you felt like the Wizards were going to win. It was a feeling that the Washington faithful haven’t felt in a while, and it came during a stretch in the third quarter highlighted by an Okafor steal followed by a quick Kevin Seraphin bucket that gave the Wizards a 59-55 lead. Even more impressive than the play itself was the energy in the Verizon Center and the sound of – dare I say – fans cheering the team instead of the usual groans and sighs.

The bench played well in the team’s first victory, as the Wizards in general seemed more focused and committed on the defensive end. It’s still tough to say exactly what this team’s winning formula is without point guard John Wall in the mix, but they may have come a step closer to discovering that last night – strong team defense with a productive bench. At least that was good enough to handle Portland.

One Wizard who didn’t see any action tonight was Jan Vesely. Vesely occupied the bench for the entire game and it sure didn’t seem like his teammates missed him out there.

Nene played 19 minutes off the bench, scoring 6 points and grabbing 6 rebounds after sitting in Monday’s embarrassment against San Antonio. However, Nene’s impact goes beyond the stat sheet, as the Wizards offensive game seems to run much more efficiently when he’s on the court. There isn’t as much of the “Let’s all chuck up long contested jumpers” style of offense that Randy Wittman’s bunch has been so fond of this season.

Enjoy the victory while you can, Wizards fans. Who knows when the next one will come. Next up, the Wizards travel to New York to play the Knicks on Friday. I haven’t seen the spread yet, but something tells me I like the Knicks to cover.

Written by Jeremy Batka @EastCoastAssn

Wizards Scrubs Outplay Starters, Mount Huge Comeback In Defeat

The Washington Wizards trailed by as many as 22 points, but a 4th quarter surge led by Cartier Martin & Kevin Seraphin's 22 straight 4th quarter points had the Wiz within 3 points in the final 2 minutes   However three Mavs offensive rebounds later the Dallas Mavericks broke their 3 game losing streak and picked up the win.

After a Detroit win tonight, the Wizards are the only winless team in the NBA.

Randy Wittman has been using players like Jan Vesely, Jannero Pargo, Seraphin, and Cartier Martin sparingly, but all four were on the floor for the comeback effort.  That group played intense basketball and looked nothing like the starters who typically loligag, fire up bad jumpers, and don't play physical defense.

On paper they aren't better players. But the game isn't played on paper...

While the Wizards haven't won a game, the people who spark the comebacks and actually play hard get DNPs.  Will Cartier Martin and his 5-6 shooting and 4-4 from the three point line play 1 second on Saturday?  Or will Wittman give that playing time to Bradley Beal who was 3-14 and 2-6 from downtown?

Comcast's "What Will Jan Vesely Do" Bit...Answer...B

Jordan Crawford led the Wizards with 21 points and he was playing lots of minutes at point guard.  And that meant dribble dribble dribble streetball pass, dribble dribble dribble chuck, dribble dribble dribble turnover.

Jordan and his steez launched another random 3 pointer from 5 steps behind the arc with a guy covering him.  It was so unexpected that Steve Buckhantz didn't even have time to say "jacks it up" as the ball was already clanging off the rim when Buck noticed.  JC also had a technical and a turnover in key moments of the 4th quarter

In screaming news, Martell Webster yelled "GET IN THERE GIRL!" on a free throw that was rolling around the rim.  Meanwhile Jordan Crawford yells "AND ONE!" on jump shots...Honestly I've never used SMH in my life, but J-Craw has added it to my lexicon.

At one point in the second quarter the Mavs had 4 straight fast breaks off missed Wizards shots/turnovers/blocked shots.  It was at that point I screamed out "FIRE THE WHOLE TEAM!" It was the worst few minutes of basketball I have ever seen at the NBA level.

Wiz Force Overtime But Can't Top Celtics

Chris Singleton slammed a dunk over Kevin Garnett who was moving out of the way, tying the game with 9 seconds left eventually sending the game to overtime.  However, the Wizards couldn't pull off the win after not being able to get off many good shots in the extra period.

The Wizards started the game much like that have in the past, down 11-2 with only a few minutes past. However the Wiz kept it close for most of the game, and after the Celtics began to pull away in the 4th quarter, the Wizards stepped up to send the game to OT.

It was a miracle that the Wizards even made it to the overtime after several bad turnovers in the final 4 minutes.  The Celtics were abusing Kevin Seraphin who turned it over 3 times in the final few minutes.

Chris Singleton turned out to be a huge spark for the Wizards in the 4th quarter.  With his teammates standing around and jacking up jumpers, Singleton drove to the hoop scoring several layups and pushed the team forward with his hustle that culminated with a slam dunk to tie the game with 9 seconds left.  He finished the 4th quarter with 12 points in the period.

The Wizards offense outside of Singleton and Kevin Seraphin (16 pts, 9 reb) was firing up jump shots with plenty of time on the shot clock.  The lack of driving to the hoop left the Wizards with 0 free throw attempts almost halfway into the 3rd quarter.  The Wiz attempted 7 foul shots in the game, the Celtics 34.

AJ Price and Janero Pargo are not starting (or backup) caliber NBA point guards.  They both were turnover machines and each took their share of OMG jump shots.  Plus look at this awful play by AJ Price.  (Price did finish with 15 points, but lots of random shots)

Brad Beal finally showed some shot-making ability (and not really any other aspects of his game) finishing with 16 points on 6-15 shooting (after starting 2-11).

Seraphin and Price combined for 12 turnovers (6 each)

Next up the Wiz get the Bucks on Friday night at Verizon...

MORE:

• Jan Vesely Put-Back Dunk GIF
• Chris Singleton Ties Game GIF
• Terrible Offensive Play By AJ Price

Verizon Overrun By Chubby Clones

On Saturday night the Verizon Center was overrun with stocky white dudes wearing Larry Bird jerseys.  No shirts underneath, just some fat arms that maybe lifted a few weights to cover up the fact that they are chubby.  There must have been dozens of them, possible all clones of each other.  Gattaca! Gattaca!  It reminded me of what it might look like in a drunk tank on a weekend.  Their bodies fueled by Creatine, Sam Adams, and a desire to stroke their hands through Tom Brady's hair.

The crowd at Verizon was made up of at least 50% Celtics fans and the cheers for the Celtics were louder than the cheers for the Wizards throughout most of the game.  "Let's Go Celtics" chants were so loud that the "booos" by Wizards fans couldn't drown them out.  There were more people wearing old Boston swag than Wizards, and the Celtics haven't changed uniforms in like 500 years.

You are wearing a Ray Allen jersey? Really?  Your team hates him, but you are wearing his jersey cuz you bought it when you jumped on the Finals bandwagon years ago and you are too lazy or poor to spend another $15 on a knock-off shirsey?

There was even a group of idiots who did a little bit where all four of them wore Patriot jerseys.  It was so funny I forgot to laugh! (sorry haven't said that in 20 years and felt like getting it out again).  I call them idiots because the jerseys were of Ty Law and Matt Cassell.  Wearing jerseys of players that aren't on the team outs you as a bandwagon fan!

And that is what made it so hard to handle the last shot of the game attempted by the Wizards.

With under 5 seconds left, down just 1 point, the Wizards had a chance to shut up the visiting team crowd.  Instead they fired up a catch & shoot fade away three pointer airball by a Martell Webster who was double-teamed with an extra 3 seconds on the clock.

Typical DC sports.  The Celtics are running away with the game.  The Wizards make a huge run to take a late lead.  The crowd gets pumped up, there is hope in the air...and then...crushed...

Game Notes:



The Wiz had Cartier Martin on the floor in the clutch. If he wasn't on the Wizards he would probably be hooping it up with Shelvin Mack in the D-League.  Meanwhile your #3 pick in the draft was MIA.

Beal had 2 points in just under 22 minutes and went 0 for 5.

AJ Price jacked up shots again and again they didn't go in.  Pargo was playing in the clutch and while he isn't a great player, he seems to help the offense better than Price.  He may be the new go-to PG and that is sort of scary.

Seraphin was good.  Except in crunch time when he decided to throw a pass like he was a PG and turned it over.

In the final minutes the Celtics were handing the game over to the Wizards, but the Wizards decided to hand it right back.  Lots of turnovers and missed jumpers by both teams.

Wiz have the Celtics in Boston on Wednesday...

Earl Barron Leads Wizards Comeback, But Wiz Fall Short

Steve Buckhantz Call Of The Game

Earl Barron and Martell Webster led a valiant Wizards comeback but the Cavaliers pulled away in the final few minutes to defeat the Wiz 94-84 to start off the NBA season.

11, 10, 9, 9, 8, 8, 7, 7, 7, 4, 4

That was the box score for the Washington Wizards.  Only 2 players barely in double figures.  Jordan Crawford and Emeka Okafor who made a combined 8 field goals in the game.  The Wizards clearly have nobody who is the clear cut leader of the team, and until someone steps up or returns from injury, the Wiz are going to have to rely on a total team effort.

Most of the game the Cavs were in control.  However the Wiz managed to keep the score within around 11 points for most of the game.  In the 4th quarter, the Wizards made a huge run thanks a lot to Earl Barron who kept possessions alive and scored key baskets for the surging Wiz.  Barron finished with 8 points and 8 rebounds in 16 minutes on the floor. (DNP in first half)

Classic Wizards offense.  Terrible spacing. Two guys next to each
other calling for the ball.

The Cavaliers dominated the Wizards for most of the game, and Kyrie Irving couldn't be stopped.  He ended with a semi-quiet 29 points while John Wall watched from the sidelines.

The Wizards and their "tipping the ball" instead of "boxing out" strategy helped lead to a 23 rebound game by Anderson Varejo (21 in the first 3 quarters) which included 12 offensive boards!

The matchup that both teams were looking at closely was that between the 3rd pick in the draft, Bradley Beal, and the 4th pick Dion Waiters.  After 2 early three pointers, Beal turned into Harry Houdini and vanished from the game.  He finished with 8 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists, a very non-impressive NBA debut.

Meanwhile Dion Waiters played big.  He looked great playing 1-2 with Kyrie Irving and he hit some bit shots including a killer 3 pointer to take the lead in the 4th quarter.  Waiters finished with 17 points.

The Wizards have several days off before facing the Celtics on Saturday for the home opener...

Other Notes:  AJ Price was far from a good point guard.  He only had 1 turnover but he slowed down the offense and dribbled too much.  The Wizards were so poor throughout spurts of the game that Jan Vesely was looking like the best player on the squad.  (View all the Vesely GIFs here).

Beal Drives, Wizards Win

Wizards 78, Bucks 75

Brad Beal’s aggressive play helped lead a Wizards comeback and the Wiz defeated the Bucks on Wednesday afternoon in Vegas to cap off a 3-2 summer league.  

Beal used the second half to start attacking the basket instead of just shooting jumpers.  He scored several layups off the dribble and drove into the lane at will.  The former Gator led the Wizards with 18 points.  Beal is supposed to be a "shooter" but if he can attack the basket and create space, he should be able to make an impact in his rookie season.

Shelvin Mack & Chris Singleton did what they do.  They were streaky, made several good plays and several bad plays.  Both are good College/D-League players but in the NBA they don’t really fit in.  Vesely twisted his ankle in the first 2 minutes of the game and did not return.

The summer league is now over for the Wizards, and the next thing to look forward to is training camp...

Wiz Win, But Griz Dominate

Wizards 83, Grizzlies 77

Josh Selby and Jeremy Pargo.  Those are the two names viewers of the Memphis Grizzlies vs Washington Wizards summer league game will remember.  Not Beal.  Not Mack.  Not Vesely.   The duo for the Grizzlies were clearly the two best players on the floor (for this game at least) combining for 2/3rds of Memphis’ points,  51 of the team’s 77.  Selby had 35 points and hit 7 out of 8 three pointers.

Selby was drafted by the Grizzlies in the 2^nd round of the 2011 draft and played for the Memphis D-League affiliate last season.  This year, Selby looks like he may be ready to join the big boys and fill in some of the vacated OJ Mayo role.  The former Kansas Jayhawk was the 49^th overall pick and shows that you can find SOMETHING in the 2^nd round.  (Satoransky was drafted #32 overall in 2012 by the Wizards, and may never play for the team).

With those two players playing great basketball, Bradley Beal disappeared.  For the Wizards, Shavlik Randolph led the team in scoring and Beal scored 14 points.  Shelvin Mack had 5 more turnovers and Jan Vesely had 6 more fouls.  Vesely’s improved jumper fell back into 2011-12 form.

Wiz finish up the Summer League on Wednesday afternoon...

DAGGER!!!!!!

Buckhantz dropped a DAGGER! and streamers fell from the sky!  Wizards still 2nd worst team in the league...

With 1:18 left in the game Cartier Martin hit a jumper to put the Wizards up 19 points.  That was apparently the shot that put the Wizards up for good because Steve Buckhantz dropped a emphatic yet quiet "Dagger!"

Now I know Buck gets a little antsy sometimes.  He does daggers in games where the Wizards end up losing.  But tonight he was really itchy.  He was going to say Dagger and nobody was going to stop him.

The Wizards ended up picking up a win and NOT blowing a huge lead...finally.  As the game ended, streamers fell from the sky, which is the most awful celebration in sports.  Streamers for a regular season win that keep the team as the 2nd worst in the NBA.

Both Booker and Nene left the game with foot injuries...

Player Notes:

Kevin Seraphin & Nene:  These guys are giving the Wizards a post game.  Kevin is getting better each game.  He only misses a few shots because he only takes good shots.  I'm impressed.  (14 pts, 7 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks).  Both Kev and Nene shot 64% from the field.  A combined 30 points, 14 rebounds.  That is like 1 Kevin Love.

Jan Vesely:  I will always hate this draft pick.  He did well swatting at balls, fouling, and hustling for loose balls.  This type of play does not work every game and does not work against good teams for an extended period of time.

Cartier Martin:  Why was this guy not on the team in the first place?  He is a scorer.  He scored last year.  He hit big shots last year.

John Wall:  Mediocre stats again, poor shooting, but I don't feel comfortable when he is on the bench.

Buckhantz saying Ernie Grunfield is so smart, a "genius"  for picking up Cartier Martin.  So is he a moron for cutting him 2 times?  

John Wall: Opposite of Clutch

The Washington Wizards kept it close with the Indiana Pacers, but John Wall once again disappeared in crunch time and the Pacers took home the win 93-89.  Wall had an offensive foul, a missed elbow jumper, and a terrible backcourt violation, all on key possessions in the final 5 minutes of a 2 point game.

Wall recently couldn't get the game tying shot off against the Pacers, then bricked a terrible game tying 3 pointer against the Hawks, then couldn't sink a game tying shot against the Pistons.  Wall is not a clutch player, and at this point in his career is not the guy you want with the ball in his hand.  I want to jump off a bridge saying this, but it has to be Jordan Crawford.

The Wizards blew another second half lead, this time only 8 points, and lost their 5th straight game, 4 out of 5 were close.

John Wall was mediocre as usual, Jordan Crawford led the scoring with lots of terrible shots, and Nene played the way he does every other game with a double double.

NOBODY was at the Pacers game.  Their record?  30-20.  Man Verizon would be so packed with that record...

Buckhantz Quote of the game:  "You know this is going up...Jordan Crawford…no he lays it off!”

Wiz Lead, Wiz Blow Lead, Wiz Lose, Repeat

For the third time in four games the Washington Wizards led at halftime, blew a double digit lead, and ended up losing a game they should have won.  This is getting to be a little bit too crazy.

This time, facing the Pistons on Monday night at Verizon in front of Michael Phelps and 5 other guys, the Wizards were up 5 at the half, led by as many as 13 in the second half, and lost to Detroit after Rodney Stuckey hit a Dagger with 0.2 seconds remaining to give his team the 79-77 victory.

John Wall ended up taking and missing the clutch game tying shot, which has happened in all 3 games the Wizards lost that were discussed before.  Luckily the Wizards ended up getting one more shot after Ben Wallace missed 2 free throws and NeNe hit the post up hook-layup to tie the game.  However Stuckey stuck it to the Wiz driving to the elbow and killing the Zards with the John Wall signature shot (except this one went in).

The Wizards were without Trevor Booker who was resting due to some knee issues and Serphin stepped in to do what Seraphin does, but his game didn't make up for the loss of Booker.  Jordan Crawford was once again the only scorer on the team and John Wall continued his terrible shooting (6-17)

In the past 5 games John Wall is shooting under 30%, hitting only 15 of 51 shot attempts!  

Steve Buckhantz continues to spend an insane amount of time on teaching us how to pronounce NeNe.  It is almost to the point where it is as bad as when he did the same thing for Anderson Verejo.

The Wizards lost all 3 games of their back to back to back and their 4th straight.  Next up are the Pacers on Thursday night in Indiana.  The Pacers just beat Miami.

Buckhantz quote of the night:   “So Crawford does what he likes to do best, and that’s shoot long jump shots”

Wiz Lose First Of Back To Back To Back

For the second straight game the Washington Wizards turned a large lead into a loss, this time blowing a 16 point lead against the Hawks for the 95-92 loss.  The Zards outplayed the Hawks for most of the game, but when it came time to end the game Atlanta stepped up and Washington let up.

Nene came alive again and the crowd is really getting behind him.  He finished with a game high 21 points, a game high 11 rebounds, and a game high 3 blocks.  Nene had 10 points and 6 boards in the first 8 minutes of the game and got a well deserved round of applause from the crowd.

The Wizards are fighting hard and playing some good basketball behind NeNe's leadership but they still can't close out games.  Jordan Crawford is the main guy on offense, not John Wall, which is kind of disappointing.  Wall had 8 Points, 3 Assists, and 1-10 from the field.  That is our #1 pick.  Clearly having a ball hog scorer like Crawford playing the 2 is not helping John Wall AT ALL.  Jordan Crawford is the John Wall Killer.

In the closing minutes of close games the star players step up (except Lebron).  John Wall does not do this.  Having the ball in his hands with the game on the line does not scare the other team.  It does not give us as fans the same excitement that we experienced when Gilbert had the ball in his hands.

Wizards play the 2nd of the back to back today against the Celtics in Boston at 6pm...

Buckhantz quote of the game (about Jordan Crawford):  "Phil sometimes he gets off some outrageous looking jumpers and I don't know how he does it"

Wizards Collapse & Get A Typical Result

The Washington Wizards led by 20 at the half and were making the Indiana Pacers look like the Washington Wizards, but a typical Wizards 4th quarter collapse, specifically an 8-0 run for the Pacers in the final two minutes, caused the Wizards to fall short and pick up another loss.

The Wizards had a chance to overcome the Indiana push and at least tie the game with 8 seconds left, but John Wall dribbled the ball for 1 second too long and as his running jumper left his hands to tie the game, the buzzer had already sounded less than a second before.

Jordan Crawford led the team with 21 points and his two different fade away 30 foot airball jumpers with the shot clock expiring were a thing of beauty, if you are into that Wizards style sadomasochism.

John Wall is making more of his elbow jumpers but they are few and far between and typically they are not a product of the offense, they are a product of defenders playing 5 feet off of him.  Because Shelvin Mack played terribly last night, Wall had to play 40 minutes, despite the Wizards leading for about 47 minutes.

As expected, NeNe calmed down a bit, Seraphin contributed efficiently once again, and Jan Vesely wacked and hacked.  Singleton ended up with a nice scoring night putting in 16 points.

I don't even have much to say about the Pacers because they played terrible.  The reason they won is because the Wizards played atrocious 2nd half basketball, and the poor play of Indiana wasn't poor enough to lose.

Next up Saturday at home vs the Hawks...

Nene Has Great Debut, Wizards Beat Nets

In their final game of a six game road trip with new Wizard Nene on the floor, the Washington Wizards defeated the New Jersey Nets 108-89 in Jersey on Wednesday night.  Nene started his career as a Washington Wizards by scoring the first bucket of the game in the opening seconds of the game and he didn't stop there.  Nene finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds and most importantly did not look anything like JaVale McGee.

The Nets played pretty terrible were led by Deron Williams' 17 points.  The Wizards had the lead at the half yet again, but with the Wizards starting to pull away the lead in the 3rd quarter Deron Williams and Avery Johnson both got ejected.  After the ejections the Nets energy disappeared and the Wizards took over.

Along with stellar play by Nene, the other big man Kevin Seraphin continues to impress.  He scored 12 points on 6 for 7 shooting and is getting better and better with each game.  Jordan Crawford led the team with 23 points but the story was the man that Steve Buckhantz calls Neh-Neh.

On the negative side, Shelvin Mack had an absolutely terrible game.   Turnovers, not coming to the ball, not getting the ball across from half court, bad defense, etc.  Janet the Volleyball player slash hacker is just a complete joke of a 6^th pick.  All he does is run around swinging his arms.  And whoever the D-League 10 day contract guy is, he is also bad.  I refuse to learn his name because it will push out some important fact out of my brain.

Buckhantz quote of the game, about a Jordan Crawford jumper “Jacks one up…and hits it”  Buckhantz is so sick of Crawford shooting terrible shots.  Best announcer ever.

The Wizards scored 100 points with 4:46 left in the game which is a good sign.  However it was against the Nets, and a Nets team without Deron Williams for half of the game.  All you can do is be thankful that the cancerous guys are gone and hope the guys continue to play hard.

Big week for half price Papa Johns.  Caps on Monday, and Wiz on Wednesday.  Order online and enter WIZ50 in the coupon code for 1/2 off.  Delivery too!

Wizards Lose To ATL, Joe Johnson Dominates

The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Washington Wizards 102-88 on Friday night in the ATL after draining open three pointers all game.  The Wizards were up at the half but they started to fall apart in the 3rd and 4th quarter and the Hawks pulled away.

Joe Johnson hit 6 three pointers and scored his season high 34 points.  The Wizards NEVER cover Johnson, and he wishes he could play DC every night because he would average 30.  12 Threes for ATL to the Wizards 5.

Without Nick Young, when Crawford is out of the game, the offense runs a lot smoother.  Lots more passing.  Lots more driving and dishing.  However having the 2nd worst Defense in the game and nobody stepping up on offense the Wizards will lose no matter who they play.  John Wall disappeared in the 2nd half.

Andray Blatche continues to be awful.  He is getting slower and fatter each day and now he is playing really weak.  He has developed a habit of shooting his 17 footer and then holding up his follow through as he springs backwards instead of crashing the boards (especially since he always misses).  The Wizards need to send him home when Nene & Cook get here.  (next week according to Buck...WTF)

Game Notes:

• I say it every time, but that stupid Hawks in-game announcer who says THREEEEEEE like a girl is very annoying.
• The Wizards give up threes, fall asleep on D, and play one on one basketball which is part of the reason why they lose so much. 
• "What a horrible miss by Violet Palmer"  What do you expect Buckhantz.  She is the worst official in the NBA and has been for years.
• I like that John Wall pulls up at the elbow but he still doesn't make enough of those shots 
• Decent game for Booker who should NOT be the leading scorer.  Where was Wall/Crawford?